“Nano” means tiny…. very tiny. Nanoparticles can be as small as a single molecule. Hence, a bit like Heineken, they can access areas of the body other compounds cannot reach.

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There’s a chemical called ceramide which has been shown to kill cancer cells in the laboratory, where it’s achieved a reputation as a “the tumour suppressor lipid”, ie. a superb fat-based cancer killer. However, the problem has always been how to deliver it effectively to tumours in cancer patients.

Now, however, an American company called Keystone Nano has found a way of concentrating ceramide into tiny packages so small they’re no bigger than individual virus particles (less than 1% of the width of a human hair)… and they’re trumpeting the potential. Note that, as ever with new advances in cancer, en route the truth emerges about the failures of existing treatments. Keystone Nano starts its pitch like this: “The current clinical approaches (i.e. cancer therapies) are invasive, of low specificity and can generate severe side effects; nanotechnology brings promising opportunities to human cancer diagnosis and treatment.”

The technology is currently being trialled for breast cancer, using a product called Ceramide Nanoliposome. How does it work ? The trick is that the nanoparticles are specifically “surface-charged” and sized to enable them to “easily enter tumor cells to deliver their payloads, destroying cancer cells”, say Keystone.“Animal experiments have already shown great efficacy.”

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Phase 1 human trials at three US cancer centres are expected to report results in 2019.